To show thanks to The Church of the Good Shepherd for allowing Exploris the use of their facilities for school-wide events, 8th grade graduation, and PTO meetings (some with and some without fees) as well as to demonstrate to our students that anyone can play a role in addressing the problem of hunger in our community, the PTO would like to hold a food drive to help support the Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen.
The number of people being served by the soup kitchen has increased dramatically in the last year while at the same time food and financial donations have decreased due to the tough economy. The Soup Kitchen is very thankful for our donations to feed the needs of approximately 300 plus men, women, and children that come to them hungry and in need of a free meal.
To fully engage the entire student body as well as to respect our lack of storage space and volunteer time constraints, we ask that students bring in a donation that they are capable of carrying themselves on their very short walk to The Church of the Good Shepherd for Expressions Day on Thursday, December 12th. It would be best for the students to bring donations in that day, but we understand that is not always possible so donations may be dropped off in advance at school.
Due to the fact that this is a soup kitchen and not a food pantry, Shepherd’s Table has very specific needs. (For example, since they are serving meals, not sending food home, large cans of vegetables are needed due to the time burden that opening hundreds of small sized cans would require.) Additionally, as our weather has turned cold, there is also a need for some non-food items. Please see list below of what is requested. If preferred, financial donations are also gladly accepted.
- #10 Can of Vegetables (these are the large size from Sam’s Club, BJ’s)
- Hot Sauce
- Spices of any and all kinds (garlic, dried onions, cinnamon, cumin)
- Packets of dry gravy mix
- Liquid hand soap
- Packets of Kleenex (individual)
- Chap-stick
- Thermos
- Gloves
- Socks
- Gift Cards to Sam’s Club, Harris Teeter, or Kroger
- Cash – checks can be made payable to Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen
If you have any questions, please let me know!
Thanks!
Cheryl Rodgers
Exploris PTO 